PUNE: MSRTC will operate about 50 e-buses, christened Shivai, on the Pune-Mumbai route by March-end in place of Shivneris as the transport utility would have 70 such vehicles in its fleet by then.
“The MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation) will procure these buses from two companies. The buses of one of the firms will run from Pune to around five districts in the first phase. Those supplied by the other company will run exclusively between Pune and Mumbai, just like the current Shivneri buses. From Pune, these buses will run to Borivali and Thane,” Shekhar Channe, the vice-chairman and managing director of the MSRTC, told TOI.
“By the end of March, we are expecting more than 70 e-buses. Of them, around 50 will ply on the Pune-Mumbai route. The Shivneri buses operating between the two cities at present would ply on other routes,” he said.
The MSRTC recently received 22 e-buses, eight months after the MSRTC launched two such vehicles between Pune and Ahmednagar. They will operate from Pune to districts like Nashik, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur and Solapur from the early next month.
On June 1 last year, two Shivai buses started plying between Pune and Ahmednagar. The transport utility’s officials had then said more e-buses would come by July. “But supply chain issues and the Covid 19 problem in China delayed their arrival. Things are finally back on the track now and we don’t anticipate any further delays,” another senior MSRTC official said.
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